Between citizen and vigilante journalism
New forms of online citizen journalism have refreshed political communication in Africa. New information technologies are providing readers with previously unavailable opportunities to comment and produce their own news and information that is able to influence political processes. However, all is...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Johannesburg
2022-10-01
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| Series: | Communicare |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1675 |
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| _version_ | 1832593754779811840 |
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| author | Winston Mano |
| author_facet | Winston Mano |
| author_sort | Winston Mano |
| collection | DOAJ |
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New forms of online citizen journalism have refreshed political communication in Africa. New
information technologies are providing readers with previously unavailable opportunities to
comment and produce their own news and information that is able to influence political processes.
However, all is not rosy about Africa’s new citizen journalism. While it has produced reliable and
quality information that African democracies require, it has also produced vigilante journalism - a
vindictive and revengeful form of gathering and disseminating news and information. Vigilante
journalism is similar to the necklacing that was common in South African in the 1980s. The article
discusses how, at the height of the Zimbabwe crisis (2007-2008), the news website, ZimDaily, led
a vigilante campaign to publicly name and have perceived relatives and children of Zimbabwean
ruling party officials deported from ‘Western’ countries. The idea was to help resolve the political
and economic crises in Zimbabwe. The editors refused to question the ethics and morality of
the exercise. Thus, encouraged by the website’s editors, Zimbabwean users of the website took
the law in their own hands and published addresses, telephone numbers and other personal
information about anyone thought to be related to those in government in Zimbabwe. This blurred
the boundaries between citizen and vigilante journalism. The resultant vigilante journalism by
groups seeking instant justice was in a way similar to the necklacing, even though this was in a
virtual sense. It is clear that the emerging new media spaces in Africa function like double-edged
swords able to either build or destroy democracy.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1adcac84800a4ccc84bde474cc7e7be3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0259-0069 2957-7950 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-10-01 |
| publisher | University of Johannesburg |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communicare |
| spelling | doaj-art-1adcac84800a4ccc84bde474cc7e7be32025-01-20T08:53:40ZengUniversity of JohannesburgCommunicare0259-00692957-79502022-10-0129sed-110.36615/jcsa.v29ised-1.1675Between citizen and vigilante journalismWinston Mano0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6958-3716University of Westminster New forms of online citizen journalism have refreshed political communication in Africa. New information technologies are providing readers with previously unavailable opportunities to comment and produce their own news and information that is able to influence political processes. However, all is not rosy about Africa’s new citizen journalism. While it has produced reliable and quality information that African democracies require, it has also produced vigilante journalism - a vindictive and revengeful form of gathering and disseminating news and information. Vigilante journalism is similar to the necklacing that was common in South African in the 1980s. The article discusses how, at the height of the Zimbabwe crisis (2007-2008), the news website, ZimDaily, led a vigilante campaign to publicly name and have perceived relatives and children of Zimbabwean ruling party officials deported from ‘Western’ countries. The idea was to help resolve the political and economic crises in Zimbabwe. The editors refused to question the ethics and morality of the exercise. Thus, encouraged by the website’s editors, Zimbabwean users of the website took the law in their own hands and published addresses, telephone numbers and other personal information about anyone thought to be related to those in government in Zimbabwe. This blurred the boundaries between citizen and vigilante journalism. The resultant vigilante journalism by groups seeking instant justice was in a way similar to the necklacing, even though this was in a virtual sense. It is clear that the emerging new media spaces in Africa function like double-edged swords able to either build or destroy democracy. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1675Zimbabwe crisisZimDailyFair Deal Campaigncitizen journalismAfrican democraciesdemocracy |
| spellingShingle | Winston Mano Between citizen and vigilante journalism Communicare Zimbabwe crisis ZimDaily Fair Deal Campaign citizen journalism African democracies democracy |
| title | Between citizen and vigilante journalism |
| title_full | Between citizen and vigilante journalism |
| title_fullStr | Between citizen and vigilante journalism |
| title_full_unstemmed | Between citizen and vigilante journalism |
| title_short | Between citizen and vigilante journalism |
| title_sort | between citizen and vigilante journalism |
| topic | Zimbabwe crisis ZimDaily Fair Deal Campaign citizen journalism African democracies democracy |
| url | https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/jcsa/article/view/1675 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT winstonmano betweencitizenandvigilantejournalism |